Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a viral disease in humans and non-human primates caused by virus within the genus Ebolavirus. These viruses are single-stranded negative sense RNA viruses in the family Filoviridae. Within the genus Ebolavirus, five species of have been identified, 4 of which are found in Africa (Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus, Cote d'Ivoire ebolavirus, and Bundibugyo ebolavirus). Zaire ebolavirus, also referred to as Ebola virus or EBOV, is the most common cause of EVD, and has led to the most deaths attributed to EVD. The clinical presentation of EVD is characterized by an acute febrile illness with fever, headache, myalgias, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Hemorrhagic symptoms, high case fatality, and person-to-person transmission are common in EVD outbreaks.
Keys to controlling EVD outbreaks include active case identification and isolation of patients from the community to prevent continued virus spread. Diagnosis of acute cases of EBOV infection is made most commonly through detection of viral RNA in blood, typically using a PCR-based detection assay. However, current PCR-based methodologies for detecting EBOV infection are limited due to nucleic acid variability across different viral strains within the EBOV species. Accordingly, there is a need for a rapid and robust assay for cross-strain detection of EBOV viruses.